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Woodwork Formulae

Details of conventional wood framing Excellent, detailed 55 page manual. See also the invaluable accompanying Wood Frame Construction Manual Workbook

Timber Attic and Timber Attic 2 and Timber Roof Flashing and Roof Flashing 2 Everything you need to construct roof structures and dormers.

Manufacture of Ceilings - Course: Timberwork techniques. See also: Partition Walls and Partition Walls 2

Floors and Floors 2 and Parquetry and Parquetry 2

Woodwork Stairs and Stairs 2

House Framing and Structure Like the human body, a house has a skeleton that gives it support, shape and a framework for outer coverings. A house's skeleton is called the frame. Though some new homes utilize steel framing, most houses are made of wooden beams, floor joists, walls studs, roof rafters and related components.

Wood Framing a Home There are two basic framing methods: platform and balloon construction, as shown at right. Platform construction is much more common than balloon framing, though balloon framing was employed in many two-story houses before 1930.

House Framing Glossary Glossary of Terms and Diagrams

Code Check: Framing Guidelines Requirements for floor and wall framing, and more — by Redwood Kardon, Michael Casey, and Douglas Hansen

Cutting Wall Plates to Length by Eye With a steady hand and a little practice, you can save a lot of time — by Larry Haun

Anatomy of a Stud-Framed Wall Proper framing for bearing and nonbearing walls — by Michael Guertin and Rick Arnold

HOME BUILDING : Home Exterior : Frame by Frame In our previous episode -- Framing Devices -- you saw how to install a wood frame for a single-story house. In this episode you'll find out how to frame a two-story and multiple-story home.

EERE Consumer's Guide: Advanced House Framing Techniques Advanced house framing, sometimes called Optimum Value Engineering (OVE), refers to a variety of techniques designed to reduce the amount of lumber used and waste generated in the construction of a wood-framed house. These techniques also improve a home's energy efficiency.

Common Building-Code Violations: Emergency-Egress Windows Too Small In the August/September 2002 issue of Fine Homebuilding, a building inspector reviews his list of top 10 building-code violations. In this sneak peek, a word about emergency-egress windows. — by Lynn Underwood

Graphic Guide to Frame Construction: Walls Practical details for framing, bracing and blocking, sheathing, insulation, vapor barriers, and more — by Rob Thallon

Fire-Resistant Details Studying the houses that survived the 1993 Laguna Beach fire storm yields lessons in building to withstand the heat — by John Underwood

Framing a Staircase 34 steps to building cut-stringer stairs — by John Spier

Hometime - How-To - Project Help - Interior Framing Most interior details, mainly walls and closets, are built with 2x4s (2x6s take up more space). The walls usually aren't load-bearing, so headers may be down-sized to consist of a couple of 2x4s. See also: Overview | Subfloor Construction | Exterior Walls | Roof Basics | Special Roof Techniques | Drywall | Glossary

Designs That Work - House Design Recommendations by Climate Region Designs That Work represents the latest Building Science Consortium experience and results under the Building America program. Climate-specific, building science and energy analysis for each house design

Building Science Corporation provides the following copies of articles, white papers and other information resources on a variety of topics for the benefit of our web visitors:

Foundations Foundation insulation, moisture issues, slabs, etc.
Walls Air / vapor retarders, housewraps, shear panels, bricks and moisture, paint, siding and rainscreens, etc.
Roofs Unvented vs. vented attics and cathedral ceilings, ceiling vapor barriers, etc.
Windows Installation information, window glass transmittance, etc.
Mechanical Systems Fan cycling control questions, controlled ventilation issues, heating and cooling choices, system sizing, duct leakage, etc.
Moisture Moisture problems
Mold Issues and questions about dealing with and preventing mold problems
Miscellaneous Articles Green building, domestic hot water, photovoltaics, black stains, wood efficiency & durability, etc.
Presentations Copies of presentations given by Building Science Corporation staff at a variety of events
BSC Articles from Outside Publications Articles written by Building Science Corporation staff and published in a variety of outside publications

Cutting Stair Stringers (rough-in) Building a simple set of stairs is only slightly more complicated than banging together a child's sandbox. Yet, somehow, stairs seem daunting to many DlYers. I suspect that what really scares people away from building their own stairs, even simple ones, are the angles involved.

Wall Framing Know-How Many renovation and building projects demand the construction of stud frame walls. These have become standard in residential applications because they're strong, go up quickly and are easily insulated.

Building plan staircases: how to build stairs Building plan staircases: Need extra staircases in your home? Learn how to build your own stairs by yourself in no time at all!

Building a Garage These pages detail the building of a simple garage. Although not usually the project for a beginning do it yourselfer, with the advent of garage kits, including pre-cut studs, assembled roof trusses and metal fasteners to the home building market, even a novice can do it. Just think of building a garage as being made up of many, small, easily accomplished steps.

Building a Wall - Introduction | Nailing and Positioning | The Layout | Three Stud Corner and Windows

A Solid Frame | THIS OLD HOUSE Tom Silva explains how good building practices not only make your house's structure sound but help everything last longer and work better. by Tom Silva

Building a Flat Roof Right Here’s how the pros construct one so it stays tight and tight

How to Choose a Pitched Roof Budget doesn’t have to be the only consideration. Home style and the makeup of the materials are important, too.

Framing a Partition Wall | THIS OLD HOUSE For every remodeling job that involves knocking down a wall, there's another that calls for putting one up. "If you're refinishing an attic or adding a closet or creating space for a pantry or home office, you're going to need an extra wall or two," says This Old House general contractor Tom Silva

Framing Learn about framing best practices at HGTVPro.com. Information for contractors and builders on a variety of topics such as house framing, roof framing, window framing, framing walls and more. Site visitors can also view videos on framing best practices.

Residential House Framing Plan  A couple in the Southeast US started building their own residential addition, and ran out of time to get it closed in. They found a framing contractor with the right credentials. He needed a residential house framing plan for his crew to follow. These are the drawings for that residential house framing plan, ten drawings in all. Reference is made to Sheet 1A and 1B standards which relate to those points excerpted and adapted from our "House Construction Design Standards" and are therein made specific to this job.

Wood Handbook ~ Wood as an engineering material. General Technical Report 113.: [PDF] Madison, WI: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory. 463 p. Summarizes information on wood as an engineering material. Presents properties of wood and wood-based products of particular concern to the architect and engineer. Includes discussion of designing with wood and wood-based products along with some pertinent uses. Download this manual before it disappears!

Timber Framing:

Historic American Timber Joinery - A Graphic Guide, Written and illustrated by Jack Sobon: You are free to view this on-line, to download and print out the PDF files at no charge. Please understand that the images have been optimized for the computer screen and for speed of internet transmission, so your printed results will vary in quality. The Guild intends to publish all six chapters in a single bound volume later this year.

Seventeenth-Century Timber Framing However modest the first dwellings erected at Plymouth may have been, they were constructed in the timber framing tradition that characterized English domestic buildings. Timber framing of the period involved setting large vertical posts into sills which in turn rested on some type of level footing, either stone or brick.

Timber Framers Guild We are a non-profit educational membership association dedicated to the craft of timber framing. We serve as a center of timber frame information and design for the professional and the general public. Lots of info, but you have to hunt it down.

Raising a 12x16 Timber Frame In the October/November 2004 issue of Fine Homebuilding (#166), Will Beemer, director of the Heartwood School in Massachusetts, describes a student exercise that involves all the major elements of timber framing: the construction and raising of a 12x16 structure. Here you'll find some tips for timber framing, a Parts list, and a photo-essay of a recent raising

Modern Timber Framing Many natural building methods — such as straw bale, cordwood masonry and cob building — benefit from timber-frame construction primarily because these methods can involve infilling between the timbers that make up the building’s structural framework. Unlike conventional 2-by-4 stick framing, the center-to-center spacing of timber-frame posts is somewhere between 6 and 10 feet. This makes infilling much less tedious; imagine trying to fill the narrow spaces in regular stick construction with cordwood masonry or straw bales.

Build Your Own House - Guide to building a timber frame home  If you choose to build a timber frame home, your first choice is whether cut the frame on or off site. If you cut your own frame offsite, don't forget to budget time and money for getting all of the frame timbers to the building site. Expect a good deal of checking (cracks in the timbers) unless you frame with expensive pre-dried timbers, like some of the artsy timber framing companies.

Building a Timber Frame Home: A Consumer's Guide The purpose of this Consumer's Guide is to provide you with a basic understanding of the process of planning, designing and building a timber frame home. As in any custom-built house, your timber frame home will require your input and will ultimately reflect your personal preferences and requirements. In this section, we provide a brief summary of the professionals who will be needed and how you might go about selecting them.

Self Build Timber Frame Home For you timber frame home, you will need an architect or designer, a timber frame company and a general contractor on your team. Some timber frame companies offer all these services as a package or may have recommended contacts to use in your area. Selecting individuals over a turnkey package may require further coordination to bring them to work.

An Easier Way to Timber Frame - Home Focus A lot of people marvel at the strength and beauty of timber-framed buildings, with their exposed posts, beams and braces. But, despite admiration for this kind of work, few do-it-yourselfers consider using timber framing techniques to build their decks, verandas, sheds and workshops.

A Timber-Frame Woodshed the shed is timber framed built from square timbers with wood plank siding rather than being "stick-built" from scrawny little two-bys and plywood that demands precision measurement and must be designed in four-foot increments to avoid endless ripping of awkward 4' x 8' plywood sheets.

Timber Framing Journal: PDF Copies of EXCELLENT Journal FULL of Information. Download Now!!  Timber Framing: No. 67, March 2003 | No. 69, September 2003 | No. 71, March 2004| No. 72, June 2004| No. 73, September 2004| No. 74, December 2004 Get them before they disappear! See also: Historic American Timber Joinery- A graphic guide (Jack Sobon)

Timber Framed Buildings and Roofs - Paul Russell Though little remains today of Saxon timberwork, archaeological evidence shows that the Saxons did have the ability to build substantial buildings competently. As Paul Russell explains, the legacy of this craftsmanship was to prove useful to both the Normans and succeeding generations.

 Timberframe Plan Book. This Timberframe House Plan Book is available on-line, in print, or as a free download from North Woods Joinery. The home plan book has 98 pages, home construction budgets, home building costs, timelines, and answers many home construction questions. Download Complete free plan book

Joinery

In this section we feature different kinds of joints that we use in our timberframing, how they are cut, and how they work when they are incorporated into the frame. We enjoy working out these old-time methods of connecting timbers, and find that many of our clients are intrigued by them too. This section will grow, so do check back again.

Basic joints

Simple mortise & tenon

Shouldered mortise & tenon

Main post/ connecting girt connection

Scarf joint

Hips and valleys

Prefitting an 8' gable dormer

Prefitting a hip dormer

17' dormer

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